I have been watching your channel for a while now, and I needed to comment on this video. The scene where Sophia is helping Tom put up the ceiling fan, brought tears to my eyes and a smile. My dad was killed a few months ago, I was an only child, and a girl but we did everything together like that. She will remember helping her dad as she grows up and its just so special and important. I really miss doing those things with him and it was nice to see it in another family :)
This is still so fresh for you... I remember a few months after my mom died a friend that sometimes came over for church brought her mom with her one Sunday. Watching the two of them made me miss my mom so much. I felt a little jealous. (Later, as I got to know my friend's mom, we became quite close, too. In fact, I now consider her as being the person I can tell anything to besides Tom. It's been such a blessing having her in my life as a second mom.) I'm so sorry your dad is gone. And I'm so glad that you could see the two of you in Tom and Sophia and feel those good memories.
All of your children are beautiful on the outside and even more beautiful on the inside. You and Tom are every kids dream of what a parent should be like. I know u are in heaven ANDREAANDI KNOW YOUR CHILDREN WILL GROW UP TO BE AN OUTSTANDING MEMBER OF THE HUMAN RACE. I LOVE WATCHINH YALLS VIDEOS. YALL ARE THE TRUE E
What a fun day! Great idea for working your way through a zoo, too! I thought the sting ray Sophia was looking at was really pretty! Tell Eden congratulations on her "biggest fry" (we do that, too!) and that made me giggle. I also giggled and said "uh-oh" when the forgotten green water bottle was found! Sophia cracked me up with her "rolling down the hill" scene...more like sideways, or as you said, up hill! Andrea, your family just makes me happy! I love how you speak to everyone with a calm tone and your kiddos all seem content and happy! I don't see bickering or melt downs (well, maybe that has to do with editing, ha!), but overall, everyone has such a pleasant spirit. Obviously they have no trouble making friends in new places, either! So much for the "unsocialized homeschool kids" myth, huh? :) Your videos are the highlight of my day, thank you for sharing. One question---were you able to have your Mother's ashes shipped out to you all? For your Dad? I hope you all were able to make that happen. Praying for your trip! -Teresa
Yes, we have our moments of bickering and meltdowns! :) We've become better at learning how to get past them. One of the things we do is have everyone shake off their angry eyebrows- we literally wiggle our eyebrows up and down to release the tense faces- and then we move on with our fun day. We tried to wait for Mom's ashes to be delivered before we went to the beach, but we had some anxious kids that wanted to get playing (and and anxious Papa Doug who wanted to avoid traffic), so we ended up leaving without them. According to the tracking, they arrived 15 minutes after we left! We're heading back to the beach this morning, though, so Dad can do what he came for.
Oh that just thrills my soul that he'll be able to do that! I'm very happy that it all worked out for him. :) When my kiddos were younger, I would always tell them to put away their "angry eyes" when they were getting upset. It was fun to make silly faces at them to get them to "lighten up". I just applaud your child rearing because, overall, the all day zoo trip seemed to have everyone in a pleasant mood, even on into the evening. I have two kids and a trip to the zoo would cause ME to meltdown, ha! I wish I had someone like you, in my life, about 11 years ago, to guide me! :) I've gotten better, as I've grown in the Lord, and it shows with how my kiddos act, now, as middle schoolers. :)
Your family are beautiful! I'm a mum of one 4 year old boy... Waiting on the Lords timing for more children. You have the family I would love, close, faith driven, BIG! I'm one of six and we were homeschooled and now as adults we still live on mum and dads property. God bless you all. I hope the Lords favour is always on you all. 😊
My oldest son dreams of having a big piece of property that we can all live on together when the kids grow up. He wants a park in the middle and all the houses surrounding it. He wants to call it Circle City. :) It must be such a blessing for you to live so close to your parents! I hope God blesses you with many more children!
Tell Asher I agree with him that zoos are animal prisons! It makes me so sad to see the majority of the animals at zoos because they have this look in their eyes that they want to be where they should be & FREE! Thanks for taking us along on your family trip! My 10 year old daughter, Evelyn & I are living vicariously thru your trip : ) We feel like we're right there with you all! Such a lovely family & it's so refreshing to see children out enjoying themselves with their family and behaving, being so polite and listening. TYTYTYTY!
That traffic! welcome to California! yikes! its like that all the time here in the Bay area. i cant stand it. Crazy drivers. haha. im a slow NY girl driving in fast cali. love the zoo. that one looks so large! so many different animals. i must take my children to the Oakland or San Francisco zoo soon. thank you for sharing your day with us. my children are truly enjoying watching and want me to start videos. haha!
Spending a week here makes me think how much of a person's life can be wasted driving! Grandma Donna has had to work all week and she said she drives her an hour each direction every day. I suppose if you're used to it you probably find things to occupy your mind on the road, but it would be difficult! You should start your own channel! I'll subscribe if you do. :)
If any of your kids ever wanted to go to public school, could they? I'm not sure if homeschool or public school costs more. And if your kids go, would they still have to match everyday?
Public school in our area costs taxpayers $20,000 a year per student. We homeschool them for about $200 a year per child. We don't have any plans to send our children to any school, public or private, because we enjoy being home together as a family!
+Andrea Mills that's great! It's amazing to know that you can spend the time with your children and save money. I'm not sure how much it costs per year for me to go to public high school in New York, but 20,000 a year per child is so expensive! Homeschooling sounds so much better
It looks like New York is about $18,000. Wyoming officially states their number as $10,000, but if you take the total education budget divided by the number of students, it's really $20,000. I suspect most states also have a higher cost than they report. Homeschooling is so much less expensive than any other option!
+Andrea Mills In USA do you have to pay if you someone wanted to send them to school? Here in Ontario school is free till college and university. I wish I knew that homeschooling was a possibility when I had my older kids I do think homeschooling is better 😉
No, we don't have to pay for public schooling personally. It's just that people's tax money has to pay for it, so it's not really free. I assume you have the same system in Canada. It's easy to think of it as free when someone else pays the bill, but it's really not. I guess it's how you look at it, isn't it?!
It takes a significant amount of time for me to edit these videos (3-4 hours each) which is a huge undertaking at the end of a busy vacation day. I had to miss a lot of sleep to make these! Much of the time, conversations were happening that we didn't want others to be a party to, or the noise in the background was very loud and/or chaotic drowning out or voices. (That was the case at both the beach and Knott's Berry Farm.) At any rate, it took all I could handle to get these done without spending extra time searching for new, appropriate music. I know you are a nice person and don't intend this comment to be discouraging, but it is. If the music annoys you, I hope you'll just turn down the volume. I spent almost 30 hours producing these this week (not counting filming time) and I meant them to be a blessing to you all.
I have been watching your channel for a while now, and I needed to comment on this video. The scene where Sophia is helping Tom put up the ceiling fan, brought tears to my eyes and a smile. My dad was killed a few months ago, I was an only child, and a girl but we did everything together like that. She will remember helping her dad as she grows up and its just so special and important. I really miss doing those things with him and it was nice to see it in another family :)
This is still so fresh for you... I remember a few months after my mom died a friend that sometimes came over for church brought her mom with her one Sunday. Watching the two of them made me miss my mom so much. I felt a little jealous. (Later, as I got to know my friend's mom, we became quite close, too. In fact, I now consider her as being the person I can tell anything to besides Tom. It's been such a blessing having her in my life as a second mom.) I'm so sorry your dad is gone. And I'm so glad that you could see the two of you in Tom and Sophia and feel those good memories.
Hope your ok X
All of your children are beautiful on the outside and even more beautiful on the inside. You and Tom are every kids dream of what a parent should be like. I know u are in heaven ANDREAANDI KNOW YOUR CHILDREN WILL GROW UP TO BE AN OUTSTANDING MEMBER OF THE HUMAN RACE. I LOVE WATCHINH YALLS VIDEOS. YALL ARE THE TRUE E
What a fun day! Great idea for working your way through a zoo, too! I thought the sting ray Sophia was looking at was really pretty! Tell Eden congratulations on her "biggest fry" (we do that, too!) and that made me giggle. I also giggled and said "uh-oh" when the forgotten green water bottle was found! Sophia cracked me up with her "rolling down the hill" scene...more like sideways, or as you said, up hill! Andrea, your family just makes me happy! I love how you speak to everyone with a calm tone and your kiddos all seem content and happy! I don't see bickering or melt downs (well, maybe that has to do with editing, ha!), but overall, everyone has such a pleasant spirit. Obviously they have no trouble making friends in new places, either! So much for the "unsocialized homeschool kids" myth, huh? :) Your videos are the highlight of my day, thank you for sharing. One question---were you able to have your Mother's ashes shipped out to you all? For your Dad? I hope you all were able to make that happen. Praying for your trip! -Teresa
Yes, we have our moments of bickering and meltdowns! :) We've become better at learning how to get past them. One of the things we do is have everyone shake off their angry eyebrows- we literally wiggle our eyebrows up and down to release the tense faces- and then we move on with our fun day.
We tried to wait for Mom's ashes to be delivered before we went to the beach, but we had some anxious kids that wanted to get playing (and and anxious Papa Doug who wanted to avoid traffic), so we ended up leaving without them. According to the tracking, they arrived 15 minutes after we left! We're heading back to the beach this morning, though, so Dad can do what he came for.
Oh that just thrills my soul that he'll be able to do that! I'm very happy that it all worked out for him. :)
When my kiddos were younger, I would always tell them to put away their "angry eyes" when they were getting upset. It was fun to make silly faces at them to get them to "lighten up". I just applaud your child rearing because, overall, the all day zoo trip seemed to have everyone in a pleasant mood, even on into the evening. I have two kids and a trip to the zoo would cause ME to meltdown, ha! I wish I had someone like you, in my life, about 11 years ago, to guide me! :) I've gotten better, as I've grown in the Lord, and it shows with how my kiddos act, now, as middle schoolers. :)
Binge-watching 💕🌸
Your family are beautiful! I'm a mum of one 4 year old boy... Waiting on the Lords timing for more children. You have the family I would love, close, faith driven, BIG! I'm one of six and we were homeschooled and now as adults we still live on mum and dads property.
God bless you all. I hope the Lords favour is always on you all. 😊
My oldest son dreams of having a big piece of property that we can all live on together when the kids grow up. He wants a park in the middle and all the houses surrounding it. He wants to call it Circle City. :) It must be such a blessing for you to live so close to your parents! I hope God blesses you with many more children!
Tell Asher I agree with him that zoos are animal prisons! It makes me so sad to see the majority of the animals at zoos because they have this look in their eyes that they want to be where they should be & FREE! Thanks for taking us along on your family trip! My 10 year old daughter, Evelyn & I are living vicariously thru your trip : ) We feel like we're right there with you all! Such a lovely family & it's so refreshing to see children out enjoying themselves with their family and behaving, being so polite and listening. TYTYTYTY!
ok
lindsey smith I feel like zoos are an agreement the zoos keep the animals safe and sometimes make them famous
Sorry, I touched the wrong key. Yalls family is the true example of the PERFECT FAMILY AND IM BLESSED THAT GOD LET ME FIND YALLS FAMILY
I am glad you are having fun! DO NOT MISS THAT TRAFFIC!
Your stroller even matches the color of the day 😊
That traffic!
welcome to California! yikes! its like that all the time here in the Bay area. i cant stand it. Crazy drivers. haha. im a slow NY girl driving in fast cali.
love the zoo. that one looks so large! so many different animals. i must take my children to the Oakland or San Francisco zoo soon.
thank you for sharing your day with us. my children are truly enjoying watching and want me to start videos. haha!
Spending a week here makes me think how much of a person's life can be wasted driving! Grandma Donna has had to work all week and she said she drives her an hour each direction every day. I suppose if you're used to it you probably find things to occupy your mind on the road, but it would be difficult!
You should start your own channel! I'll subscribe if you do. :)
my husband drives for Uber. he is in that crazy traffic everyday, but he loves it!
I could not drive in LA it would give me way to much anxiety!!!
Another binge watcher:)
I would love to see a video on how you made Sophia's dress!
Animal prison what an asher thing to say!lol Justus making friends at the park just like he is in school now!
I think Mom really likes the plants
Looks like you all had a fun day out. x
So happy someone picked to see the tigers my most favorite animal ever.Ive even been called the Tiger lady🐯👋👍👌👏💔
Im new here. Do yall match all the time because thats a good way to stay together and not get lost! Very smart!
Yes, we do. Here's a video about that: ruclips.net/video/n52r0taoRIY/видео.html
The traffic is just too crazy for me!
My most favorite animals are bats!
pricey zoo tickets, how much would a family membership have been?
I just checked. Dad wouldn't have been on the membership so we'd still have to buy him a ticket, but in the end we would have saved $10.
Thumbs up!
If any of your kids ever wanted to go to public school, could they? I'm not sure if homeschool or public school costs more. And if your kids go, would they still have to match everyday?
Public school in our area costs taxpayers $20,000 a year per student. We homeschool them for about $200 a year per child. We don't have any plans to send our children to any school, public or private, because we enjoy being home together as a family!
+Andrea Mills that's great! It's amazing to know that you can spend the time with your children and save money. I'm not sure how much it costs per year for me to go to public high school in New York, but 20,000 a year per child is so expensive! Homeschooling sounds so much better
It looks like New York is about $18,000. Wyoming officially states their number as $10,000, but if you take the total education budget divided by the number of students, it's really $20,000. I suspect most states also have a higher cost than they report. Homeschooling is so much less expensive than any other option!
+Andrea Mills In USA do you have to pay if you someone wanted to send them to school?
Here in Ontario school is free till college and university. I wish I knew that homeschooling was a possibility when I had my older kids
I do think homeschooling is better
😉
No, we don't have to pay for public schooling personally. It's just that people's tax money has to pay for it, so it's not really free. I assume you have the same system in Canada. It's easy to think of it as free when someone else pays the bill, but it's really not. I guess it's how you look at it, isn't it?!
👍❤️🐯
if one of your children was gay would you still love him?
Why wouldn't I?
Your a great mother part of a great family, BY FAR the best family I have ever seen and I JUST WISH I was part of your family
And can I say, Claudia and Sophia are some of the cutest things I have ever seen
I love looking at everything but that 'music' is annoying. Could it be quieter or changed out once in a while? 😕
It takes a significant amount of time for me to edit these videos (3-4 hours each) which is a huge undertaking at the end of a busy vacation day. I had to miss a lot of sleep to make these! Much of the time, conversations were happening that we didn't want others to be a party to, or the noise in the background was very loud and/or chaotic drowning out or voices. (That was the case at both the beach and Knott's Berry Farm.) At any rate, it took all I could handle to get these done without spending extra time searching for new, appropriate music. I know you are a nice person and don't intend this comment to be discouraging, but it is. If the music annoys you, I hope you'll just turn down the volume. I spent almost 30 hours producing these this week (not counting filming time) and I meant them to be a blessing to you all.
Great video and the music wasn't loud or annoying!